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Lev Haiba
is a 1st year student from Nekoma High. He is one of the team's middle blockers and is the self-declared ace for the team. Appearance Lev is very tall, with exceptionally long arms and legs. He has neatly parted light grey hair, and slanted, green cat-like eyes framed with thin eyebrows. His half-Russian heritage gives him height, exceptional limb length, and physical ability. Personality He is shown to be quite childish and cheerful, as displayed by making fun of and pointing out Hinata's and Yaku's height along with the contrast they hold to him and other players. Lev's appearance, as well as his piercing eyes, causes people to believe he is much more intimidating and serious than he actually is. Though he can be extremely blunt often offended others without realizing, he never seems to mean any real harm and adopts a playful attitude towards most things. He is also shown to be enthusiastic about spiking as he gets excited about it very easily, and can be competitive with people he is interested in. Background Lev is a half-Japanese, half-Russian first-year. He was born and raised in Japan and, consequently cannot speak Russian. He is first introduced in chapter 79 of the Haikyū!! manga and the first OVA episode, shown at Jump Festa 2014. He attends Nekoma High, and is a Middle Blocker and self-proclaimed ace on the Nekoma High Volleyball Team. Plot Tokyo Expedition Arc Karasuno meets Lev Haiba during the first round of away-games. He was not present at the practice match between Nekoma and Karasuno because of his lack of experience. Kōshi Sugawara and Asahi Azumane ponder if the first-year that was staring at them was present at the Battle at the Trash Dump. It is during a match that Lev demonstrates his whip-like spike, amazing members of Karasuno. Lev and Shōyō Hinata run into each other in the bathroom entrance. Hinata is intimidated by Lev's height and heritage, surprised to find that Lev does not speak Russian. Lev teases Hinata on his height, and Hinata became offended. Lev then compliments Hinata's jump, but says that he can jump higher, prompting him to jump up, hitting his head on the frame of the door. They part ways, swearing that they will defeat each other. Lev is present to say good-bye to Karasuno when they depart. Spring High Preliminary Arc Statistics Whip Spike Lev's most notable ability yet is his whip-like spike, first displayed in Chapter 79. Hinata, in particular, is amazed by this spike, telling Lev "It's incredible, how your spikes made it seem like the blockers being there didn't even matter." Lev takes a straightforward approach to spiking, looking to win and garner the most hits, but shows a willingness to learn technical terms. His basic abilities are weaker (much like Hinata's, as Kenma had mentioned), but his strike, height, and physical ability make up for this. Lev still has trouble syncing with Kenma's toss. During the Spring Training Arc, he started improving by learning to read block. Ace Lev's teammates don't seem to acknowledge his calling himself Nekoma's ace; Taketora in particular, who claims "a guy who can barely handle a defense can't go calling himself an "ace"". Kozume Kenma even goes so far as to say, "His basics in throwing spikes and stuff are absolutely awful, even worse than Hinata's. His back spin kicks are crappier than Hinata's, too." Even though his over power, technique, stamina, and speed isn't outstanding, his extremely long reach and solid jumps make up for it, as noted from Kenma who could set him a middle ball about the height of the antenna. Shōyō Hinata Lev first meets Hinata in Chapter 78, and the relationship between the two is both competitive and playful, as the two have similar personalities. Hinata first learns of Lev whilst watching him play and through Kenma as well, in awe of his striking prowess and his tall gait. When he meets Lev, though he is shocked at first he quickly warms to him. Upon Lev's mentioning of Hinata's height and his jumping ability not being enough to combat his own height and jumping ability, Hinata jumps high enough to hit his head on the doorframe and claims he will jump higher than Lev can. This surprises Lev and the competition between the two ignites. In general, however, the two seem to be pretty good friends with one another, the competition between them more of a friendly rivalry. Morisuke Yaku Lev and Yaku are opposites in physical traits. While Lev is a towering figure, Yaku is short, even if he doesn't like to admit it. Lev's bluntness leads him to point this fact out, much to Yaku's annoyance.The libero makes sure to reprimand Lev; often physically hitting him in his anger of him pointing out the latter's height. Yaku is also seen to have been training Lev with his receives, although Lev ditched him one time and lied to his teammates to play with Kuroo, Bokuto, Akaashi and Tsukishima, leaving Yaku enraged. Kenma Kozume In the Nekoma OVA, Kenma and Lev are seen to be working together to perfect the timing of Lev's whip spike attack. It is mentioned by Kenma that Lev's technique is almost nonexistent and that his attacks are sloppier than Hinata's. At first it seems as though Kenma dislikes Lev, but this feeling eventually disappears as the two are able to attack properly later in the series. Trivia *'Favorite food:' Oinarisan *'Current concern:' His senpais try to give him weird nicknames. *Lev cannot speak Russian; despite being of Russian-Japanese descent, he was born and raised in Japan. *Just like Kenma, he doesn't like Kuroo's prematch speeches and famous quote "we're like blood in our veins...", and according to Kenma, that's the only thing he agrees with Lev on. *Lev shares a birthday with Reon Ōhira. *His star sign is Scorpio. (♏) *'Nomenclature': **Lev (Лев) - Lion **Haiba (灰羽) - Ashen Feathers Quotes *''"You're even shorter up close."'' (to Hinata, within the first few minutes of meeting him in Chapter 79) *''"The ace is the one who makes off with the most points. It's as simple as that."'' (to Hinata, in Chapter 79) *''"I'm trying to be humble by not letting everyone know that I'm the best."'' (to Kenma, in Chapter 82) *''"I am the wind. I am as swift as the wind...I am the forest. I am as quiet as the forest...And...I'm flexible...as a cat!" (to himself, OVA 1) *"''I grew two millimetres!" (to Hinata) *''"Well, I'm not going to become just a regular - but the Ace!" (Haikyū!! OVA) *"The Ace has...Awoken!" ''(After spiking one of Kenma's tosses for the first time, Haikyū!! OVA) References Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Nekoma High Volleyball Club Category:Middle Blockers Category:1st Year